1904 BLOOMFIELD NJ 1st Ed PHOTO-ILLUS TOWN HISTORY BOOK to ATTRACT RESIDENTS VG

Description

HERE’S A RARE
Ca.
1904
1
st
EDITION
“BLOOMFIELD NEW JERSEY”
LOCAL PHOTO-ILLUSTRATED ANTIQUARIAN HISTORY BOOK
Issued by the Board of Trade, Bloomfield, N. J.”
The booklet features the area of Bloomfield, New Jersey.
A local history book written to attract residents/businessmen to Bloomfield as a convenient place to live and commute to New York City.
The book contains a well-illustrated history of the area, schools, churches, residential neighborhoods, etc.
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NOTE:
Bloomfield was incorporated as a town on February 26, 1900. In 1904, around the time this local history book was produced, the City of Newark failed in its attempts to reannex Bloomfield as part of the "Greater Newark" movement.
Condition:
32pp., in VG condition, with some soiling to the soft cover wraps (which are detached, and have small paper chips at the edges).
A FINE ADDITION TO YOUR STATE OF NEW JERSEY HISTORICAL BOOK, MANUSCRIPT & LIBRARY COLLECTION.
HISTORY OF BLOOMFIELD
The initial
patent
for the land that would become Bloomfield Township was granted to the
English
Puritan
colonists of
Newark
, and the area assigned to
Essex County
in 1675, and Newark Township in 1693. From the 1690s to about the 1720s, much of the northern and eastern land was sold to descendants of
New Netherland
colonists who had settled
Acquackanonk
, and the remainder mostly to English families.
Speertown
(now Upper Montclair), Stone House Plains (now
Brookdale
), and
Second River
(now Belleville and Nutley) were essentially
Dutch
and
Jersey Dutch-speaking
, while
Cranetown
, Watsessing, and the Morris Neighborhood (now North Center) were predominantly English. Starting in the mid-18th century, the English and Dutch neighborhoods gradually integrated, with
Thomas Cadmus
being among the first Dutchmen to settle in an English neighborhood.
Numerous residents served in the
Revolutionary War
. No significant engagements occurred in Bloomfield, although the locale was on the
Continental Army's
retreat route after the
Battle of Long Island
;
British
and American troops conducted foraging operations; and
General
George Washington
is believed to have visited at least two residences.
The Green
was set aside to commemorate the use of that space for
drilling
of
militia
.
The
Presbyterian
Society of Bloomfield (now the
Bloomfield Presbyterian Church on the Green
) was formed in 1794 and named in honor of then-
brigadier
Joseph Bloomfield
, commander of
New Jersey
troops in the
Whiskey Rebellion
. About the same time, the
Dutch Reformed Church
of Stone House Plains (now Brookdale Reformed Church) was established. The two churches became integral institutions of southern and northern Bloomfield, respectively.
Bloomfield was incorporated as a township from portions of Newark Township by an act of the
New Jersey Legislature
on March 23, 1812.
At the time, the Presbyterian parish's namesake was governor of New Jersey and had recently been appointed brigadier general for service in the looming
War of 1812
.
At the time it was incorporated, the township covered 20.52 square miles (53.1 km
2
) (almost four times its current area of 5.3 square miles (14 km
2
)) and included several municipalities which were formed from portions of Bloomfield during the course of the nineteenth century, including
Belleville
(created on April 8, 1839),
Montclair
(April 15, 1868),
Woodside Township
(March 24, 1869) and
Glen Ridge
(February 13, 1895). The Stone House Plains neighborhood was renamed as Brookdale in 1873.
Bloomfield Station in 1908
In the township's first century, Brookdale farms thrived while southern Bloomfield industrialized, and the township's infrastructure, civil framework and social institutions developed. Several miles of the
Morris Canal
passed through Bloomfield. The Oakes woollen mill thrived as a major supplier to the Union Army.
Bloomfield was incorporated as a
town
on February 26, 1900. In 1904, The city of Newark failed in its attempts to reannex Bloomfield as part of the "Greater Newark" movement. In 1981, the town was one of seven Essex County municipalities to pass a referendum to become a township, joining four municipalities that had already made the change, of what would ultimately be more than a dozen Essex County municipalities to reclassify themselves as townships in order to take advantage of federal
revenue sharing
policies that allocated townships a greater share of government aid to municipalities on a per capita basis.
In the 20th century,
GE
,
Westinghouse
and
Schering
built major facilities, and among others, the
Charms Candy Company
was started and grew. After
World War I
, Brookdale's farms were developed into residential neighborhoods and supporting services. Substantial population growth continued into the 1950s. During
World War II
, while many Bloomfield men served in the armed forces, Bloomfield's farms and factories, largely staffed by women, supported the war effort. In the decades after the war, the township's industrial base steadily shut down with stricter environmental regulations, rising labor costs, and growing competition. These influences, as well as construction of the
Garden State Parkway
, further drove
urban decay
and related population turnover and stagnation through the latter part of the 20th century.
In the early 21st century, redevelopment of blighted and underutilized properties has further shifted Bloomfield towards being a primarily residential municipality.
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